Civil rights activist. Presidential advisor. A woman who helped draft the charter of the United Nations — Mary McLeod Bethune is a name most kids learn when studying Black history. The Black press often called her the ”First Lady of Negro America.” But also, she’s the person who founded Bethune-Cookman University. And, her work shows how from the very beginning, education has been part of Black folks’ push for democracy.
Civil rights activist. Presidential advisor. A woman who helped draft the charter of the United Nations — Mary McLeod Bethune is a name most kids learn when studying Black history. The Black press often called her the ”First Lady of Negro America.” But also, she’s the person who founded Bethune-Cookman University. And, her work shows how from the very beginning, education has been part of Black folks’ push for democracy.
Thank you to Dr. Ashley Preston of Howard University and Dr. Crystal deGregory of Bethune-Cookman University for sharing their knowledge.
SHOW NOTES
More by Dr. Ashley Robertson Preston:
More by Dr. Crystal deGregory:
References used in reporting today’s show:
I went to Florida A&M University — FAMU — in Tallahassee. And every year, our school plays in the Florida Classic.
Against Bethune-Cookman University, down the way in Daytona Beach.
It’s a friendly competition: We show up, we talk mess, we have a good time. So for us FAMU Rattlers, the BCU Wildcats are sort of like family, like our cousins.
And their school has a pretty important history, one that’s rooted in huge educational influence.
This history led to the education of more and more Black women like me. And, it led to educational standards that we still follow today.
Personally, I’ve been thinking A LOT about my responsibility as a Black educator in higher education — not just what I should be doing for my students, but with the privilege I’ve been given, this HUGE opportunity to teach and to guide — what do I owe them?
Well, lucky for me, there is a trailblazer who has laid the foundation for me. Really, for all of us. And yes, as you might’ve guessed: This work happened right at a historically Black college.
This is Bragging Rights.
A podcast about the stories — and people — who made our HBCUs.
Civil rights activist. Presidential advisor. A woman who helped draft the charter of the United Nations.
Mary McLeod Bethune is a name most kids learn when studying Black history. I know I did. The Black press often called her the ”First Lady of Negro America.”
But also, she’s the person who founded Bethune-Cookman University. And, her work shows how from the very beginning, education has been part of Black folks’ push for democracy.
[Clip from 1939 speech “What Does American Democracy Mean to Me?”]
She was born in 1875 as Mary Jane McLeod to parents who were formerly enslaved.
She was the 15th of 17 children. But, she was the first one born free.
At 16, she went to Scotia Seminary for Negro Girls in North Carolina. There, her classmates said she was a leader.
Then, she attended Moody Bible School in Chicago where she studied to be a missionary. And was the ONLY Black student there.
Dr. Ashley Robertson Preston is an assistant professor of history at Howard University.
She’s a scholar who studies, writes, and teaches about Mary McLeod Bethune.
PRESTON: She actually wanted to become a missionary. But she was told that they were not allowing any more African Americans to go back to Africa as a missionary. And so then she became a teacher. She taught with a woman by the name of Lucy Craft Laney in Augusta, Georgia. And her story is very similar to Ms. Bethune's. She started a school with very humble beginnings. And so I think that's where she got the idea to start the school because she talks about because she talks about studying Lucy Craft Laney and being, really being mentored by her.
PRESTON: And so thereafter, she goes on to teach in South Carolina.
Here, in South Carolina is where she met and married Albertus Bethune. He was a fellow teacher. And together they had their only child — a baby boy named Albert. Then, the family moved to Florida.
PRESTON: She becomes like a teacher at a mission school and Palatka, Florida. And after that, she decides that she wants to start her own school in Daytona Beach.
So in 1904, Bethune opened her own school: the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls. She only had $1.50, which is about $55 today.
PRESTON: And she starts it out of her desire to start a school, of course, but also necessity. Because there were a lot of railroad workers who were moving to that area. And in her mind, you know, there needed to be a school to educate those young people who were coming there, who were just moving to that area.
The school started as a five-room cottage with five girls and little Albert as students in the inaugural class. In just two years, the school grew to 250 students. And in 1907, the school moved to its current location. Around this time, Bethune and her husband separated but she continued the work.
In 1912, she said: “This work grew out of my own soul. The seed was planted in my heart when I was in darkness myself. Whatever I have accomplished has been in answer to prayer.”
In 1923, the school merged with Cookman Institute in Jacksonville — the state’s first Black higher ed institution. In 1931, the name became Bethune-Cookman College because of Bethune’s remarkable leadership.
Then in 2007, Bethune-Cookman College became Bethune-Cookman University.
Today, it’s still growing. And with it, so is Mary McLeod Bethune’s hope that her school would be filled with people who serve like she did.
PRESTON: Those young people, they serve. … Any Wildcat will tell you that "Enter to learn, depart to serve" is a serious matter for them. It's so serious that on their buildings, when you're going out of the door, it says "depart to serve." I thought that was like the most beautiful thing ever, that there was a constant reminder of service that is really ingrained in them. I mean, you see service in a lot of the models of these HBCUs: "truth in service," but it's real at Bethune. … And I know that that comes from Mrs. Bethune because you know she served.
And did she!
She founded the National Council of Negro Women. She was co-founder of the United Negro College Fund and the National Association of Colored Women. She was a member of President Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet.” She lobbied for integrating the U.S. Civilian Pilot Training Program and bringing it to HBCUs. That led to graduating some of the first Black pilots in the country.
But, to me, it’s Bethune’s commitment to education that I can’t stop thinking about.
DeGREGORY: I believe that Dr. Bethune's legacy looms very large over the higher education landscape. There are many qualities that are arguably enduring in every way. Dr. Bethune's commitment to service above self, her commitment to really mothering generations of students.
Dr. Crystal deGregory is an associate professor of history. And she’s the founding director of the Mary McLeod Bethune Center for the Study of Women and Girls at B-CU.
DeGREGORY: When you look at the record of achievements of Doc Bethune across time and space, a half a century or more really, of service, you really have no other choice but to be awed.
And at B-CU, that foundation is still there.
DeGREGORY: We're still growing, and we're glowing. And we are living and learning, and leading in the spirit of Dr. Bethune. … And everything that we are doing is to move Dr. Bethune's legacy and ultimately to move Bethune-Cookman forward.
But to move forward, well, that requires dedication — dedication from all of us.
DeGREGORY: That requires the support of not only people who have immediately benefited from the university, say as alums, but also broader HBCU culture, I would argue even our Rattler friends should be rooting for us.
Rattler friends, us FAMUans, that means us, too!
DeGREGORY: We just hope that with this particular envisioning, of Dr. Bethune's life and legacy, that we can grow existing friendships, mend old ones, and perhaps gain some new ones in the cause, ultimately, of women and girls in general, Black women and girls in particular, but also with the knowledge that a rising tide lifts all boats. And ultimately, a future for women and girls in this country means a future for all.
For more about Bethune Cookman University and its plans for the future, visit cookman.edu.
Thank you to Dr. Ashley Preston of Howard University and Dr. Crystal deGregory of Bethune-Cookman University for sharing their knowledge.
Other references from this episode, including links to their work, are listed in the show notes.
Hopefully, we’ll have some more ears and hands helping out soon. But for now, Bragging Rights is reported and produced by me, Arionne Nettles.
Join us next time for another deep dive into an HBCU story. We’re going to flip back to the present with an HBCU sports team making history. In the meantime, keep bragging!